JP5481256B2 - Assembly structure of airbag module cover - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an assembly structure of an air bag module cover, and is an air that can reduce noise generated between a retainer that accommodates an air bag and a module cover attached to the instrument panel side when the vehicle travels. The present invention relates to an assembly structure of a bag module cover.

  In general, an airbag module of an airbag device for a passenger seat of a vehicle is fixedly supported by a fixing portion such as a vehicle body side member, and is integrally or separately provided on an instrument panel (hereinafter referred to as an instrument panel) in front of the passenger seat. Is attached to a module cover having a cleaving portion (air bag grid) formed as a structure having a relative movement (floating structure).

  7 and 8 are cross-sectional views showing a structure for attaching the airbag module cover 53 to the instrument panel 57 of the above-described passenger seat airbag device 51 (hereinafter referred to as the airbag device 51). FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the airbag device 51 before being attached to the instrument panel 57. FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view showing the airbag device 51 shown in FIG. 9 separated into a module cover 53 and an airbag module 52 for explanation.

  Conventionally, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the airbag device 51 has a module cover 53 supported so as to cover an upper portion of the airbag module 52 directly to the instrument panel 57 via a predetermined connecting means 58. Or indirectly or indirectly. In FIG. 7, an airbag module cover 53 (hereinafter simply referred to as a module cover 53) of the airbag device 51 includes a top plate portion 53 </ b> A in which a thin portion 56 serving as a cleavage portion is formed on the inner surface side of the center portion, It is composed of a module support wall 53B having a rectangular frame shape integrally formed on the lower surface of the top plate portion 53A. The upper surface of the top plate portion 53A is finished to the same specifications as the instrument panel 57, and constitutes a part of the instrument panel 57 when attached. The airbag module 52 is set so that the airbag module 52 is dropped from above into an airbag deployment opening formed in the instrument panel 57, and at that time, a locking hook 58 as a connecting means is provided at the opening edge of the instrument panel 57. The top panel 53A is attached so that the surface of the top panel 53A is flush with the instrument panel 57. On the other hand, the retainer 60 that functions as a holding portion of the airbag module 52 is fixed to a fixing portion 70 on the vehicle body side member side using a bolt or the like (not shown) via a bracket 66 formed in a part thereof. In the retainer 60, as shown in FIG. 7, a cylindrical inflator 62 fixedly held at the bottom and a gas supply port connected to a gas outlet (not shown) of the inflator 62 are connected. A passenger seat airbag 61 folded into a predetermined shape is accommodated. The airbag 61 for the passenger seat is folded in advance in a compact manner so that it can be efficiently inflated and deployed at the time of gas introduction, and can be efficiently accommodated in the small-capacity retainer 60, so that the folded shape is maintained. The retainer 60 is assembled in a state where the periphery is covered with a cover cloth 63.

  The packing cloth 63 is made of the same material as the airbag base cloth cut into a rectangular shape, covers the outer periphery of the folded airbag 61 as shown in FIGS. The side 63a is fixed to a bolt (not shown) of a plate that is fixed to the retainer 60, and the folded airbag 61 is held in the compact shape shown in FIG.

  FIG. 8 shows a structure for attaching another conventional airbag apparatus 51 to the instrument panel 57. The airbag device 51 shown in FIG. 8 has a structure in which the top plate portion 53A of the module cover 53 is welded to the instrument panel 57B. That is, in this conventional example, the instrument panel is composed of an instrument panel 57A on the fixed side that is a part of the interior module, and an instrument panel 57B that is disposed so as to close the opening for airbag deployment formed in the instrument panel 57A. Has been. In this type of airbag module 52, the top panel portion 53A of the module cover 53 is welded to the lower surface side of the instrument panel 57B so that the instrument panel 57B and the module cover 53 are integrated. The instrument panel 57B and the module cover 53 are fixedly held at the opening edge of the instrument panel 57A via a fixing pin 58 as a connecting means. In this example, three thin portions 56 serving as cleavage portions are formed on the inner surface side of the instrument panel 57A, the central thin portion 56 is at the slit position of the top plate portion 53A, and the thin portions 56 on both sides are the top plate portions 53A. It arrange | positions facing the curved part formed in this. For this reason, when the airbag is inflated and deployed, the instrument panel 57B can be surely pushed open from the inside at the position of each thin portion.

  Here, for an assembly structure in which the airbag module 52 and the module cover 53 constituting the airbag device 51 assembled to the instrument panel 57 are integrally assembled, refer to FIGS. 9 and 10 shown based on the configuration of FIG. To explain. FIG. 9 shows the airbag device 51 in a state where the airbag module 52 is integrated and assembled so as to cover the module cover 53. As shown in the figure, the air bag device 51 has a plurality of openings 55 formed in the module support wall 53B of the module cover 53, and hooks 65 formed on the retainer 60 side. 53 is assembled with the airbag module 52.

  The structure of each member mentioned above is demonstrated with reference to FIG. As shown in the drawing, a plurality of L-shaped hooks 65 are arranged on the front and rear surfaces 60B of the outer periphery of the retainer 60 at predetermined intervals in the lateral direction. On the other hand, a rectangular opening 55 is provided in the module support wall 53B which is the front and rear surfaces of the module cover 53 at equal intervals corresponding to the position of the hook 65 of the retainer 60. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 9, the module cover 53 is put on the retainer 60 so that the hooks 65 on the retainer 60 side are engaged with each of the openings 55 arranged in this manner, and the two are connected and assembled. At this time, the dimension of each opening 55 formed in the module support wall 53B is set to such an extent that the hook 65 locked in both width and height can sufficiently move up and down. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the inner dimension of the module cover 53 is slightly larger than the outer dimension of the retainer 60 in plan view.

  The airbag module 52 described above has a loose coupling structure (floating structure) having a predetermined clearance 54 (see FIG. 7) between the module support wall 53B of the module cover 53 and the outer peripheral surface 60B of the retainer 60. Therefore, when vehicle vibration occurs during vehicle travel, the floating structure is maintained even if a vibration phase difference occurs between the retainer 60 supported by the fixed portion of the vehicle body side member and the module cover 53 attached to the instrument panel 52 side. Since vibration can be absorbed by the portion, transmission of vibration during traveling to the instrument panel 52 side (vehicle compartment side) can be blocked.

  However, since the clearance 54 between the opening 55 of the module support wall 53B and the retainer outer peripheral surface 60B or the hook 65 is small, the vibration transmitted from the retainer 60 side causes the module support wall 53B and the retainer outer peripheral surface 60B or the hook 65. Between them, contact (collision) occurs due to minute repeated vibrations. The module cover 53 is a relatively flexible thermoplastic elastomer such as TPO, but the hook 65 of the retainer 60 is a metal member. (For example, annoying noise) may be perceived. Therefore, in order to reduce this vibration noise, as shown in FIG. 7, a small piece (urethane slab) such as felt cloth 68 or urethane resin is applied to the outer peripheral surface 60B of the retainer that collides with the module support wall 53B. (See Patent Document 1).

JP 2004-338525 A

  As an existing measure described above, for example, as described in the detailed description of the invention of Patent Document 1, urethane slab is attached to the outer surface of the airbag case as a cushioning material, and noise absorption is achieved by the cushioning effect of the urethane slab. It was. However, these measures require additional cushioning materials such as felt cloth and urethane slab, which increases costs. Moreover, since attachment work, such as sticking of a buffer material, arises, there exists a problem that workability | operativity of assembly | attachment falls. Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and assemble so as to efficiently reduce noise generated between the module cover due to vibration transmitted from the retainer side at low cost. An object of the present invention is to provide an assembly structure of an air bag module cover.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an airbag module in which an airbag and an inflator supported by a vehicle body fixing portion and covered with a cloth material that retains a predetermined folded shape are accommodated in a retainer. In an assembly structure of an air bag module cover in which a module cover supported by an instrument panel with a clearance is connected via a locking means provided on an outer surface of the retainer, the cloth material covering the air bag Forming a notch piece at a position to be a folded part in the retainer, folding the cloth material through the notch piece at a part for fixing the airbag, and retaining the shape of the airbag. An end of the cloth material is held by the locking means provided outside the retainer, and a buffer is interposed between the retainer and the module cover. It is not characterized by comprising.

  In the buffer, it is preferable that an opening formed on an end side of the cloth material is locked by the locking means and the position is maintained.

  The locking means includes a plurality of hooks arranged on the outer surface of the retainer, each slit formed along the edge of the cloth material is locked to each hook, and the cloth material is fixed to the outer surface of the retainer. It is preferable to be held in the area.

  The slits can be improved in buffering action by allowing the adjacent slits to be displaced in a range in which the slits can be locked with respect to the arrangement position of the hooks.

  The shock absorber can be further enhanced by extending between the retainer and the module cover and extending between the outer surface of the module cover and the inner surface of the tip of the locking means.

  According to the present invention, by using the packing cloth covering the airbag, it is possible to efficiently reduce the noise generated between the module cover due to vibration transmitted from the retainer side at low cost. Play.

The perspective view which cut off one part and showed one Example of the assembly structure of the airbag module cover of this invention. Sectional drawing of the assembly structure of the airbag module cover shown in FIG. The top view which showed one example of the shape of the packing cloth used for this invention. The top view which showed the other example of the shape of the packing cloth. The fragmentary sectional view which showed the detailed structure of the assembly structure of an airbag module cover. The fragmentary sectional view which showed other embodiment of the assembly structure of an airbag module cover. Sectional drawing which showed an example (integrated specification) of the assembly structure of the conventional airbag module cover. Sectional drawing which showed the other example (welding specification) of the assembly structure of the conventional airbag module cover. The perspective view which showed the state which connected the conventional airbag module and the module cover. The perspective view which isolate | separated and showed the airbag module and module cover shown in FIG.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of an assembly structure for an airbag module cover according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  In this embodiment, a cushioning structure using a packing cloth added to the assembly structure of the module cover of the airbag module of the passenger airbag device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the module cover 3 of the airbag module 2 of the passenger seat airbag device 1 according to the present invention. It is the fragmentary perspective view which showed the assembly state of. The shape and dimensions of the retainer 10 and the hook 15 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the airbag inside the retainer 10 and the method of accommodating the retainer 10, the shape and dimensions of the module cover 3 covered by the retainer 10, and the material, 8 Same as the conventional product shown elsewhere. Further, the clearance 4 between the retainer outer surface 10B and the module support wall 3B shown in FIG.

On the other hand, the present invention is characterized in that the shape of the packing cloth 20 is as shown in FIG. As described above, the conventional packing cloth 20 is a cloth material of the same fabric as the airbag base cloth cut into a rectangular shape, and the airbag 11 folded through an attachment portion formed at the end of the cloth material. The shape is covered and held, and is attached to a fixing portion (not shown) of the retainer 10. On the other hand, in the present invention, by extending the packing cloth 20 that covers and retains the same airbag 11 as the conventional one, and adding a portion that functions as a buffer to the end of the cloth , A buffer body can be disposed at a contact portion between the module support wall 3B of the module cover 3 and the retainer outer surface 10B. Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the buffer provided in the packing cloth 20 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a packing cloth 20 (hereinafter simply referred to as a cloth 20) used in the present invention. The cloth 20 of the present invention uses the same fabric (airbag base fabric) as the conventional one. The dimension is the same width as that of the conventional cloth 20 (corresponding to the folding length of the airbag), and the length is extended by the provision of the above-described cushioning body, so that the mounting hole for the conventional retainer mounting bolt at the intermediate position ( Four U-shaped notch tabs (notch pieces) 21 are formed at the same position as ( not shown), and attachment holes 22 are formed in the notch tab 21. Further , two rows of slits 23 in which a plurality are arranged in a row are formed on the end side of the extended cloth . These slits 23 are elongated through holes formed by punching the cloth 20, and the dimensions thereof are set slightly larger than the cross-sectional shape of the root portion of the hook 15 of the retainer 10 shown in FIG. . The arrangement interval is set to be equal to the attachment interval of the hooks 15 of the retainer 10.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2 these slits 23, when the air bag 11 is accommodated in the retainer 10, is secured within the retainer 10 in the mounting hole 22 of the notched tabs 21, further root notch tabs 21 (FIG. 3: valley fold line 25—dashed line), protrudes from the upper edge portion 10b of the retainer 10, and further folds back outward (FIG. 3: mountain fold line 26—broken line). Pass the hook 15 through. Thereby, in a state where the airbag 11 is housed in the retainer 10, the end side of the cross 20 is folded back so as to protrude from the upper end portion 20b of the retainer 10, as shown in FIGS. . By covering the portion with the module cover 3, as shown in FIG. 2, the end side 24 of the cross 20 is sandwiched between the retainer outer surface 10 </ b> B and the module cover 3. As a result, the end 24 of the cloth 20 functions as a buffer between the retainer 10 and the module support wall 3B. Note that the valley fold line 25 and the mountain fold line 26 shown in the cross 20 in FIG. 3 are not pre-creased lines, and mean that the cloth of the cross 20 is loosely folded back in a substantially U shape in this vicinity. ing. Therefore, in the manufacture of the cloth 20, only the cut of the U-shaped notch tab 21 and the punching of the attachment hole 22 and the slit 23 are performed on the base fabric having a predetermined shape. A cut line 27 that breaks the cloth 20 when the airbag 11 is inflated is formed at a predetermined position of the cloth 20 similarly to the conventional cloth 63 (FIG. 7 and the like) .

  As a result, when vibration is transmitted from the retainer 10 side, since the fabric as the buffer body is located between the module support wall 3B of the module cover 3 (clearance 4), the retainer 10 is connected via the buffer body. The abnormal noise generated when the module support wall 3B comes into contact (collision) has a low volume and changes to a soft low frequency range, so that the abnormal noise that is harsh to the passenger is greatly reduced.

Hereinafter, as a modification of the buffer, an example in which the shape of the buffer constituted by the cloth 20 is changed will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the cross 20 shown in FIG. 4A, the positions where the slits 23 are formed are not arranged in a line as shown in FIG. 3, but the intervals in the width direction are made equal and positioned within a predetermined range d. It can be set as appropriate. Thus, for example, when the airbag 11 (FIG. 2) is housed in the retainer 10 using the cross 20 formed of the slits 23 shown in FIG. 4A, in a state where the slits 23 are locked to the hooks 15. As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the positions of the slits 23 are slightly different, so that the size of the buffer portion protruding from the upper part of the retainer 10 and folded back into an inverted U shape has various shapes. For this reason, the timing at the point (position) where the retainer outer surface 10B and the module cover 3 contact each other is dispersed, and the result of increasing the buffering action against abnormal noise at the time of collision can be confirmed. It should be noted that the slits 23 may be arranged appropriately as follows. Adjacent slits 23 may be alternately zigzag within the range of d, the adjacent positions may be changed stepwise, or randomly arranged. It means that.

  In the cross 20 shown in FIG. 4B, two rows of slits 23 are formed so that the rows of slits 23 are separated by a distance e and are symmetric with respect to the valley fold line 25. Thus, for example, when the airbag 11 is housed in the retainer 10 using the cross 20 having the slit 23 shown in FIG. 4B, in the state where the slit 23 is locked to the hook 15, FIG. As shown in a) and (b), two types of locking states can be configured.

  6A, after the inner slit 23 is locked to the hook 15, the module cover 3 is attached to the retainer 10, and then the end 24 of the cross 20 is folded outward from the lower end of the module support wall 3B. The state where the outer slit 23 is locked to the hook 15 protruding from the opening 5 of the module support wall 3B is shown. As described above, the end 24 of the cloth 20 serving as a buffer is provided between the retainer 10 and the inner side of the module support wall 3B, and between the outer surface of the module support wall 3B and the inner surface of the hook 15. Since the inner and outer surfaces are sandwiched between the shock absorbers, the module support wall 3B does not come into contact with the metal portion of the retainer 10 at all. For this reason, the generation of abnormal noise during vibration was greatly reduced.

  FIG. 6B shows an example in which two rows of slits 23 in which the distance e of the slits 23 shown in FIG. 4B is smaller than in the case of FIG. 6A are provided. When the cross 20 having this shape is used, the end 24 of the cross 20 is folded back twice between the retainer outer surface 10B and the inner surface of the module support wall 3B. For this reason, a high buffering effect is obtained between the retainer outer surface 10B and the inner surface of the module support wall 3B, and the contact sound is greatly reduced. Further, since the buffering effect at this portion is high, the impact at the time of contact between the outer surface of the module support wall 3B and the inner surface of the hook 15 is greatly reduced, and the occurrence of abnormal noise at this portion can also be reduced. 6 shows a state in which two rows of slits 23 are formed, but the retainer outer side surface 10B and the module support wall are larger than the case shown in FIG. An example in which the number of folded backs of the cloth 20 positioned between the inner surface of 3B is increased or the folded patterns of FIGS. 6A and 6B are combined is also possible.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment (the embodiment based on the conventional example shown in FIG. 7 (an embodiment in which the top plate of the module cover and the instrument panel is integrated)), and is shown in FIG. It goes without saying that the same configuration can be realized in the conventional example (the type in which the top plate of the module cover is welded to the instrument panel). Various modifications within the scope of the claims are possible. In other words, embodiments obtained by combining technical means appropriately changed within the scope of the claims are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

1,51 Airbag device for passenger seat 2,52 Airbag module 3,53 Module cover 3A, 53A Top plate portion 3B, 53B Module support wall 4,54 Clearance 5,55 Opening 10,60 Retainer 11,61 Airbag 12 , 62 Inflator 15, 65 Hook 20, 63 Packing cloth 21 Notch tab 23 Slit 24 (Cross) edge

Claims (5)

An airbag module that is supported by the vehicle body fixing portion and covered with a cloth material that retains a predetermined folded shape and an inflator accommodated inside the retainer is provided with a predetermined clearance and is supported by the instrument panel. In the assembly structure of the airbag module cover formed by connecting the module cover via a locking means provided on the outer surface of the retainer,
The cloth material covering the airbag is formed with a notch piece at a position to be a folded part in the retainer, and the cloth material is folded at the part where the airbag is fixed via the notch piece. The bag is shaped, and the end of the cloth material is held by the locking means provided outside the retainer, and a buffer is interposed between the retainer and the module cover. The assembly structure of the airbag module cover.   The assembly structure of the airbag module cover according to claim 1, wherein an opening formed in an end side of the cloth material is locked by the locking means and the position is maintained. The locking means includes a plurality of hooks arranged on the outer surface of the retainer, each slit formed along the edge of the cloth material is locked to each hook, and the cloth material is fixed to the outer surface of the retainer. The assembly structure of the airbag module cover according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the assembly structure is held on the airbag. The assembly structure of the airbag module cover according to claim 3 , wherein the slits are formed so that adjacent slits are allowed to be displaced within a range in which the slits can be locked with respect to the arrangement position of the hooks. The buffer body, through between the module cover and the retainer, to any one of claims 1 to 3, extends to between the tips of the inner surface of the module cover an outer surface and said locking means An assembly structure of the described airbag module cover.

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